I spent the night near the Silverado TH, though not at the TH itself which
doesn't allow overnight parking. Less than half a mile to the west I found a
nice spot on the north shoulder of the road to park off the roadway and away
from numerous houses in the canyon. I left the back windows open to allow me
to sleep to the sounds of the water rushing down the creek and the crickets
making their usual chirping noises in a happy, spring-like manner. I was up
before dawn, having a bit of breakfast and then driving to the TH just as it
was getting light out. Though parking here is restricted before sunrise, but I
figured half an hour was close enough. My
Adventure Pass was expired, but I
left in on the dash anyway, just in case the ranger wasn't checking dates very
closely.

The plan today called for a loop hike up the Maple Springs Rd, north and west
on the Main Divide Rd, then down the Silverado Trail to the start, tagging a
collection of HPS (Modjeska) and LPC (Bald, Bedford) peaks along the way. If I
was feeling *really* good, I hoped to add an additional 8 miles to do Pleasants,
but that was a far stretch. There was nothing difficult or unusual
about the hike today and no cross-country, and it went pretty much according
to plan.

In the early morning hours I enjoyed the easy hike up the paved road that is
Maple Springs,
nicely shaded by the main crest of the range to the east. The deciduous oaks
and sycamores lining the creeksides had recently started to
sprout new leaves. There was a good deal of water in the creek that, with the
exception of the first crossing, is allowed to flow over the road without the
benefit of a drainage under the pavement. This proved to be easily crossed
with the help of convenient rocks along the roadside and a deft hop or two. A
slow-moving newt
was the only wildlife I saw on the ground though the birds
and squirrels in the trees were noisily keeping company.

Somewhere around the 3,500ft level, about 4 miles in, the pavement gives way
to gravel and dirt. It was well-graded with the exception of a
damaged section
around mile 5 that would have been impassible in my van - up to this
point I had been mildly lamenting that the road was closed to all vehicles while
appearing in fine shape. As the road switchbacked
out of Silverado Canyon the
sun appeared from over the high eastern ridge. The switchbacks are very long
to keep the road grade mild, making for more hiking than one might expect.
Looking
at the Maple Springs switchbacks from Main Divide Rd later in the day,
it appears there may be old fire road tracks that could be utilized to
shorten these considerably, but since I wasn't headed back down that way I
was not able to determine this for certain.

It was just before 9a when I reached the junction
with Main Divide Rd, Bald and Bedford north
along this road, Modjeska a short distance to the south. I
knew there was a very long switchback along the road to reach Modjeska and
hoped for a shorter route up the NW Ridge. Studying the summit from the
junction, I could see no route leading up the direct ridgeline, but there
looked to be some sort of trail traversing high across the West Face. I found
a starting point just south
of the road junction, an unmarked trail on the
left side traversing up into the chaparral. This turned out to be almost as
good as I'd hoped, as the trail was nicely groomed and easily managed, saving
a lot of additional hiking to be done had I taken the road the whole way. The
trail intersected the summit road high on the SW side of the mountain with only
another short switchback remaining.

After three hours of walking I'd found my way to the top
of Modjeska. The only register I found was inside a small
concrete block with
a metal "Orange County geocache" marker affixed to one side, with the usual
geocache goofiness inside. The highpoint is
partially engulfed by the chaparral, but a little walking around will get you
pretty good views in most directions. As the highest point north until the
San Gabriel Mtns, it offers fine views in that direction
as one might expect. There is a nice view east down Coldwater Canyon
and across the Temescal Valley towards
San Jacinto. Nearby to the south rises the higher
Santiago Peak, another HPS
summit and county highpoint. I had climbed Santiago some years ago when I was
chasing county highpoints, but not knowing or caring about the HPS list, I had
neglected Modjeska on that first visit to the area. To
the west spread out
Orange County and the California coastline, Catalina and San Nicolas islands in
the haze off the coast.

Not staying long at the summit, I scrambled down the rocky north side, the only
scrambling of any sort on the day, along a mostly brush-free route that
intersects the road at the switchback about 100ft below the summit. I retraced
my route down the road to the trail, which I took back to
the intersection
with Maple Springs Rd. I then started north
along the modestly undulating road along the crest of the range,
enjoying the views off to either side. I mistook the higher
Peak 4,229ft for
Bald Mtn, spending the few extra minutes to hike to its top before realizing
my mistake. There was a small
fenced-in enclosure and a painted concrete memorial
to the soldiers of the ... (next part unreadable) ...
Sept 29, 1995 (Thinking it was the date of the tragedy, I did an internet
search for it but came up with nothing, leading me to believe that was the date
the monument was placed). Though not the summit I was looking for, it
offered a good vantage to Santiago and Modjeska to the south as well
as to Bald Mtn in the opposite direction.

It took but ten minutes to hike the intervening distance between the two
summits. Bald Mtn lies on the boundary between Orange and Riverside counties,
a marker planted in 1949 to confirm this.
The register, inside the standard
red cans, did not date back very far. I noted Kathy Wing was among the last
party to sign in five days earlier.

The county line, road, and main crest all make a dogleg turn to
the northwest
from Bald Mtn on their way to Bedford Peak, where they then return to their
northward direction. Passing under
a transmission line along the way, a USFS
water truck came lumbering by in the same direction. I stuck out my thumb
hoping to get lucky with a ride to Pleasants Peak from which I could then walk
back to Bedford to gain the extra summit. I got a short wave, but no offer of
a ride. I continued to follow the road past the junction
with the Bedford Truck Rd (hey look - a benchmark here),
more ups and downs, and then another
water truck, this one empty, coming the other way. The driver stopped to ask
where I was headed, commenting that there was a controlled burn ahead in
progress that I was to avoid. I had seen the smoke trailing up along the ridge
about halfway between Bedford and Pleasants for the last two days and guessed
the purpose. I told the driver I was only going as far as Bedford and that
seemed to satisfy him, but I would have to give up hope for Pleasants today
no matter how good I felt.

Before reaching Bedford, I paused to saunter up to Peak 3,860ft.
I hadn't confused this with
Bedford like the previous unintended foray, this time doing so just because the
topo map showed another benchmark there. Much of the fireroad leading up to it
had been dug up by a backhoe, alternating small pits with piles of dirts before
leaving it be. It made it somewhat awkward to walk along, but I suspect the
primary reason was to prevent vehicles from driving on it and giving the
vegetation a chance to regrow (it wasn't doing well at this latter task at the
time of my visit). I found the concrete and steel post with
the benchmark that
had been dug up and left to one side, an ignoble resting spot for these little
monuments. I'm not sure that it was even the one shown on the topo as it had
been placed by the Orange County Surveyors office, not the USGS. Likely, the
USGS one was under one of the many piles of dirt, garnering it an even more
ignoble end.

The summit of Bedford was another 20 easy minutes along the main road and a bit
of old fire road to reach the summit. There are two rounded summits vying for
the highpoint, which by all indications seems to be
the southeastern one. I
found no register or benchmark, but there were
two halves of the concrete shell
that held it in place at one time.
Someone appears to have freed the heavy steel post
from its encasement and pirated it as booty or perhaps just chucked it
over the side of the hill. In any case I believe I was atop Bedford Peak. I
continued northwest over a use trail to the other possible summit, then back
down to Main Divide Rd and its junction with the
Silverado Trail.

It was nice to get off the wide, dusty road and onto the narrower Silverado
Trail, which first follows down
the Southwest Ridge of Bedford Peak before
dropping in some wide switchbacks
back down to the trailhead in Silverado Canyon.
I paused to take photos of the yuccas in various stages of blooming,
from first appearance of the stalk, followed by its
growth upwards some 6-9
feet above the plant before it begins to open and flower.
There were a few
patches of poppies
along the way, but few other flowers to be seen. I passed
by a bare-chested hiker in sneakers and shorts on his way up for his afternoon
workout, contrasting sharply with my sun-avoiding attire that had me covered
head to foot.

By 1:40p I was back on the pavement of the
Maples Springs Rd, only a few minutes
from the trailhead parking. An
older gentleman on crutches along with his wife
were on their way out at at the same time. As we walked back to our cars parked
next to each other, he asked me a few questions as a lead-in to tell me about
his many visits to the canyon. His first one had been in 1971 on a Kawasaki
motorcyle before the pavement had been laid down. He had other short stories to
tell as well, interesting to listen to as I sat at the back of my van unloading
my gear and taking off my boots. As there were too many visitors in the
immediate vicinity of the TH, I hiked back up the road to the first crossing to
find a place for a quick rinse in the cold creek water. I can't say it was
nearly as enjoyable as a hot shower, but in its own frigid way, it was
refreshing.

Dave Belanger comments
on 04/16/15:
I love hiking Modjeska...I try to do it every weekend. Next time you're in the area, you gotta try going up the Joplin Trail if you haven't done that on yet. The scenery on that trail is unbelievable. Anyway, awesome site. Thank you for your contributions!